1831 in rail transport
April events
*
April 23 - the
Pontchartrain Rail-Road begins operation.
*
April 25**
Matthias W. Baldwin displays a model
steam locomotive at the Philadelphia City Museum a year before building his first full-size locomotive for a working railroad.
** The
New York and Harlem Railroad is incorporated.
June events
*
June 17 - The first
boiler explosion in the
United States occurs when the engineer on the
Best Friend of Charleston ties the steam safety pressure release valve shut.
[Rivanna Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (2005), This Month in Railroad History - June. Retrieved June 13 2005.]*
June 18 - The
John Bull is constructed by
Robert Stephenson and Company in
England.
*
June 21 - The
Boston and Providence Railroad is incorporated and chartered to build a railroad connection between
Boston, Massachusetts, and
Providence, Rhode Island.
*
June 23 - The
Boston and Worcester Railroad is chartered to build a railroad between its namesake cities in
Massachusetts.
July events
*
July 14 - The
John Bull departs
Liverpool aboard the steamship
Allegheny bound for
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
September events
*
September 4 - The
John Bull arrives in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from
Liverpool.
*
September 15 - The
John Bull is operated for the first time on the
Camden and Amboy Railroad.
*
September 24 - The
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad opens between
Albany and
Schenectady, New York.
November events
*
November 12 -
Robert L. Stevens, president of the
Camden and Amboy Railroad hosts a demonstration run of the
John Bull for
New Jersey politicians and dignitaries.
Unknown date events
* The first railroad built in
Virginia, the
Chesterfield Railroad, begins operations.
* The
New York and Harlem Railroad is incorporated to build a passenger railroad between its namesake cities.
*
John B. Jervis becomes the chief engineer for the
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, a predecessor of the
New York Central.
March births
* March -
Robert F. Fairlie,
Scottish steam locomotive builder (d.
1885).
[Robert Francis Fairlie. Retrieved February 9 2005.]*
March 3 -
George Pullman,
American inventor and industrialist, founder of the
Pullman Company (d.
1897)
August births
*
August 26 -
T. Jefferson Coolidge, president of
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1880â€"1881 (d. 1920).
[The Political Graveyard (March 10 2005), Politicians in Railroading in Massachusetts. Retrieved December 29 2005.]Unknown date births
*
Eli H. Janney, inventor of the knuckle
coupler (d.
1912).
* Mitchell, Frank (March
1999),
M. W. Baldwin. Retrieved
February 15 2005.
*
